The Tremont senior — all night the shortest player on the court — scored a game-high 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting to propel the Turks to a 49-45 victory over Olympia on Friday night to win the Class 2A Havana Regional championship.

Tremont (22-7) will now face Bloomington Central Catholic on Tuesday in the Stanford Sectional semifinals.

“My teammates kept me focused. It was nothing but positives. We knew if we stuck with the plan, kept pounding away and stayed focused, we’d be alright,” Dean said after the Turks won consecutive regional titles for the first time in school history.

It was anything but positive in the early going, as Olympia (13-17) led most of the first half because the Turks had little offensive rhythm.

“The zone that we practiced for was more extended, and (Olympia) packed it in,” Tremont boys basketball coach Troy Schmidt said. “Our angles weren’t there early.”

Tremont got five straight points, including two free throws from Connor McDonald with no time on the clock, to forge a 17-15 halftime lead.

Dean then corralled two huge offensive rebounds in the third quarter to hlep Tremont build on their advantage.

The Spartans’ Ashton Beachy drained a 3-pointer early in the fourth to pull Oly within 32-30, but that was as close as the game would get.

Tremont then knocked down 6 of 8 foul shots in the final 1:15 and got a breakaway basket from McDonald as Olympia missed two treys in the final 25 seconds.

Dean added four rebounds and two steals, Bryce Breeden (11 points), McDonald (10 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists) and Tyler McDonald (10 rebounds) all contributed to an effort which left Schmidt red-eyed in the aftermath.

“We’ve broken every huddle this year, in practice and at games, with ‘Regional Champs.’ We knew where we had been, and where we wanted to go,” the coach said. “This was our goal.”

Drew Stribling led Olympia with 12 points and three assists, while Ethan Schmidgall chipped in four points, eight rebounds and three steals.